Harry Potter and the Chronicles of Percy Jackson
by Anirudh
Summary: Three worlds, existing without the slightest knowledge of the other, come together by the union of young children. The world of Harry Potter brings mystic power and magic, the world of Percy Jackson brings the Gods to mankind and the world of Narnia takes it all away into a magical land from which there is no turning back. A continuation of the previously left incomplete story.
1. On Board the Hogwarts Express

**Chapter 1:- On Board the Hogwarts Express.**

"Hi, I'm Albus Severus Potter; this is my first time to Hogwarts. Are you a first–year too?" Albus was always a nervous little boy but he was much calmer after the little conversation he had had with his father on the platform.

Albus Severus Potter was the son of Harry and Ginny Potter and a very famous wizard. He was currently on his way to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Sitting opposite Rose Weasley, his cousin, on the Hogwarts Express, he was feeling excited, for the first time since receiving the letter, about going to Hogwarts.

"Well, Al, you can stay here and chitchat all that you want with the lovely ladies here and I will go and do my own poking about. Say Roger, how would you like to come with me to see Scorpius? You don't want to stay here, do you? Come along" and James dragged Roger out of the compartment, nearly colliding with the food trolley in the process.

"Anything off the trolley?" called out the fat lady pushing the trolley. All the occupants of the compartment, including Rose, rushed to the gateway. The moment everyone got there however, they all backed away screaming "looting on the Hogwarts Express!"

Albus smiled to himself and shouted out something which could either make him very popular or much hated. "It's my treat!"

Everyone looked back at him in mixed awe and shock, then they chanted Albus's name in unison. While everyone was enjoying treats like Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans, Pumpkin Pasties and, the most favourite, Skiving Snackboxes, one particular boy was sitting in a corner, eating what looked like cotton candy.

Albus recognised him as the same boy he had asked the question to, and now noticed that he was not only shy but scared as well. He called the boy to sit beside him but he wouldn't move.

Just when Albus was losing hope of making contact with the boy, after several failed attempts, the boy decided to come and see Albus. What mystified Albus was that the cotton candy that the boy had been eating just seemed to vanish into thin air just as the boy moved.

"Hello Albus, my name is Joshua Grace. I'm a first year too." Joshua didn't sound confident at all, but at least he was talking. However, instead of getting relieved that he was finally getting some words out of the boy, Albus was shocked.

"Did your parents teach you magic? How did you make that candy disappear?" Albus knew that though it was illegal to use magic outside school before the age of seventeen, many young witches and wizards learnt spells before joining Hogwarts. What surprised Albus was that Joshua had not appeared to utter a spell at all.

Finally, Joshua smiled. He was a special child; he had known that from the day that he knew anything worth knowing. But he also knew that he was more special than any person on the train, or in that compartment at least.

Joshua had never known his family; he had grown up with an Italian family, somewhere in the middle of London. He knew, however, that he belonged in America. He often had dreams of Long Island, and a place like a camp where everyone wore orange shirts.

Amongst all his dreams, two dreams in particular caught his attention: in one he found himself on the top floor of the Empire State building, which seemed way too big. In the other, he seemed to be staring at a girl who was dressed in battle armour with a shield which had a woman with snakes for hair on it. In that dream, he also seemed to be calling the name Thalia over and over…

But putting that all aside, Joshua deliberated on how to answer Albus's question; he reflected on alternatives to the truth, some rather clever ones but otherwise mostly absurd. In the end, he decided to stick to the truth.

"That wasn't candy, it was a cloud, and I wasn't eating it, I was playing with it" Albus's looks went from shock to confusion so fast that it was impossible to tell what he was actually feeling. Instead of responding to Joshua, Albus looked out the window to see a bright, sunny, cloudless sky.

"It's a clear day" Joshua had a smirk on his face, but was laughing heartily inside. Whoever he told the truth to would react much in the same way as Albus. "These things seem to happen to me all the time. Whenever I am sad, a little bubble of cloud just floats about near me, but others usually think that it is candy. It gets weird because whenever I am angry, people get fried up!"

Albus didn't find the last part weird at all; he knew that wizards could do that. His father had set a Boa Constrictor on his cousin before he had gone to Hogwarts, before he even knew that he was a wizard.

"I have a cousin, a distant one, named Alice Dursley. She was pulling the legs off of the frogs in our pond, and I got mad. Suddenly, all she could do was croak; every time she said something, it came out as a croak! Even mum and dad couldn't fix her; we had to call in Aunt Hermoine!" And both the boys laughed out loud, clutching their stomachs.

Unknown to them, they had just marked the beginning of a friendship stronger than any before. Stronger than Harry's and Ron's, stronger than Percy's and Grover's, stronger even than Edmund's and Caspian's.

Sitting amidst some of the most powerful people in the world, they didn't realise the danger they would go through and impose on the world, or on each other. They sat, opposite each other, taking in the beautiful countryside, eating sweets and reading information about Harry Potter on the Wizard Cards.

Suddenly, the train stopped and the sky turned from warm blue to a fiendish grey. Lightning and thunder rolled across the sky, shaking the train itself. Then a voice, not unlike the thunder itself, boomed in the very air:

"Demigod! Be warned, you tread down a path from which there is no return! Do not turn to us for help when you destroy the very civilisation you cherish so much!"

Everything went back to normal after that, but when Albus looked across the seat, Joshua was gone.

"He's back!" the cries of terror came from all around the train. Albus, who knew that Voldemort still struck fear into the hearts of thousands of witches and wizards, could understand exactly what the panic was all about. Desperately, he tried to calm everyone down.

"_Sonorus_" whispered Albus, pointing the wand at his throat, and trying to sound as old as possible. "It's all right, he's not back! My father killed him nineteen years ago. And Voldemort would never talk like that, surely you must realise that. This was someone's idea of a practical joke! It's all right; none of us have been harmed! _Quietus_" he knew that the last part wasn't true; Joshua was missing and who knew where he was.

"Al, exactly where is that kid you were talking to just now? He sure disappeared fast" Rose had received her mother's brains, and her gentle nature.

"I was thinking about that too, maybe we should–" but just at that moment, the train shook violently, and was nearly saved from toppling over. Then, with a sudden jerk, the train began to move. Albus had expected everyone to start screaming again but, surprisingly, everyone was calm and everything quiet.

_Too quiet_, thought Albus and he went out of the compartment to investigate. Everyone was in their compartment and against their seat. He thought that they were sitting there hoping for a calm journey the rest of the way, but then he tried the compartment doors and found that they were all jammed in place.

A closer look at the people inside showed him that they were struggling to break free, from an apparently invisible force holding them back. _If only I had read my books with a bit more concentration_, he thought, _I would have been able to smash this glass to bits_.

Luckily, Rose had. She took out her twelve and a half inches, Elm and Dragon Heartstring wand, pointed it at the glass and whispered "_bombarda_". At first nothing seemed to happen and then all of a sudden cracks started appearing through the glass.

"Well done Rose, let's just hope this worked" but, to the dismay of both, it didn't. The force holding the door in place was also apparently holding the glass together; the cracks merely stayed cracks. Hearing the only noise on the train, James and Roger came to where Albus and Rose were.

Roger Finnigan, also a first year, was one of Rose's best friends. James had found Roger to be astoundingly fun and had befriended him thus. He stayed extremely silent at almost all times and he only ever spoke heartily with Rose. The two were more or less inseparable.

"What's the matter do you think? And how are you guys outside? I thought all the doors were shut" James was, probably for the first time ever, the most serious person in the room.

"I was going to ask you the same thing, how are _you_ outside?" Albus had never imagined that his first day would be quite as exciting as this, but he was a descendant of the Potters, excitement followed him everywhere.

"Something very weird happened in the compartment which I was in. I was just visiting Aaron Thomas and his pals when suddenly we heard the voice. Then we felt the train shake and suddenly everything stopped and there was no noise afterwards. Aaron got up to check outside but he couldn't get the door open, so he called Roger and me to try. I opened it easily enough but the moment we got out into the corridor, the door slammed shut behind us. I looked back and saw that everyone was sort of stuck to their seat. What's going on?"

"Our door never got locked, but we tried to shatter this glass, but it didn't work. Do you know any spell which can help?"

"Wait" said Rose before James could reply, "I think we should all cast a spell together. If only my casting a spell was able to create a crack, I am sure all of us could shatter it completely" Rose looked eagerly at Roger, James and Albus with hope. Even though Albus was beginning to see her point, James disagreed and Roger just shrugged his shoulders.

"This is obviously some powerful magic; certainly no first or second year magic could overcome it. We shouldn't bother wasting our energy" Only about a second after James finished talking, they heard a roar loud enough to shatter all the glass in the train, and shatter it did.

The noise that followed was louder than anything they had heard that day. Roger, James, Albus and Rose rushed into their own compartment, away from the screaming students. Again, their compartment seemed to have been left out; its glass was perfectly intact. Just as a precaution, Rose cast _Protego_ on the door after locking it.

"_What_ is happening?" asked Roger and Albus in unison, receiving no reply. James sat down on the seat nearest the door, looking out into the corridor intently. Rose meanwhile pulled out a small, beaded bag from under her jacket.

"It's got to be in here, everything's in here" she muttered to herself more than to anyone else. She thrust her had into the bag, then pushed her hand deeper and deeper into the bad until her entire arm was inside the bag, somehow.

"Uh, Rose? Your hand, it's disappeared, into a bag. Aren't you worried?" Rose, of course, ignored Albus still. Then she pulled out three lockets and closed the bag. After putting it back under her jacket, she turned her attention to the lockets.

"If any of you feel very hot" she said "don't worry, I expect it to happen". Then, after slipping two lockets onto her wrist, she brought the third close to her lips and whispered a single, inaudible word.

Immediately, Roger started screaming loudly. "_Something's burning inside me!_" he said through gritted teeth. He fell down to the floor and started clawing at anything within arm's reach, including Albus.

Albus, by contrast, found Roger's hand to be extremely cold. He tried to help Roger but he didn't know what to do, so he turned to Rose. He found Rose to be looking at the pendant of the locket, apparently oblivious to his condition.

She hastily put the pendant around Roger's neck and the moment he touched it, he stopped squirming and just lay there. He woke up seconds later, smiling slightly.

Only while looking back at Roger did Albus get his first good look at the locket. The chain was made up of small silver rings, tied together by seemingly invisible string. The pendant itself was a long thin glass cylinder which a single strand of golden hair in it, of about two inches. The brass top of the glass cylinder was engraved with a lion and the bottom with what looked like a castle between two hills.

Upon looking more closely, Albus was able to make out some text engraved on the glass itself. However, just before he could read it, his vision blackened and he felt all sensation leave his body. Then, every part of his body seemed to be on fire. He could almost see the fire spreading through him, but he just couldn't trace it back to its source. He knew it was inside him, he just didn't know how he knew. As the fire inside him burned hotter, he felt his fingers tingle and he made a grab at something. He recognized a familiar velvety substance and tried to pull it. He couldn't though, as just then, something seemed to stop his heart and smash his brain.

Albus awoke what he thought was hours but was really only a few seconds later. He had been having a really nice dream, though he didn't exactly remember what it was. He also realised that the dream had left a smile on his face. Even though he knew that he looked stupid, he couldn't seem to wipe it off his face.

"What was that all about?" Albus asked half interestedly, as most of his attention was occupied by the locket around his necklace. However, he wouldn't even have notices the presence of the locket had he not seen it because it was weightless and was the same temperature as him. He looked up at Rose and was delighted to see that she was looking at him too, holding up the last locket.

"These are lockets of protection, they were made at the same time as the world these originate from, but were hidden from everyone. Then, when the war was over and the two sons of Adam and the two daughters of Eve had been crowned kings and queens, these lockets were given to them.

"Last year, while playing in the backyard of The Burrow, I stepped over some sort of wire and landed in a place where it was snowing, in the middle of summer. A bit of looking around landed me near a lamppost, which I marked as where I would need to return for getting home. Just as I was about to enter the woods at the edge of the road on which I was four large horses came running out. Astride the horses were the most wonderfully dressed people I had ever seen.

"The youngest was a young woman who was dressed in the softest of red silks possible and carried a dagger and an essence at her belt. The older one to her was a young man who had over his shoulders a long, trailing purple cloak of the same material, who in turn carried a bronze sword. The second oldest was a woman who looked as though she had descended from heaven itself, both by face and by cloth, which changed colour even as I looked. Slung over her shoulders were a large, carved bow and a quiver full of arrows. The oldest was a man of amazing build and pride, wearing a golden cloak, shining armour and a ring with the face of a lion.

"These, I learnt later were the four kings and queens of the land, hence their magnificent crowns. They also had, however, identical lockets around their necks, too simple to belong to kings and queens.

"The royalty stopped all around me, both the kings with their swords drawn and both the queens with their weapons drawn as well. The first to speak was the oldest sibling. 'I, Peter Pevensie, High King of Narnia, demand you to tell me who you are and why you find yourself on the lands of Narnia.' I was frightened; therefore, I told them the truth. They listened intently and then they sheathed their weapons and spoke to me in a gentle tone. 'Rose Weasley, I admire your courage, but I advise you to return to your homeland, Narnia is not for ones with families waiting. Leave now, or forever remain with us.'"

"At this, I looked desperately around me for any sign of where the lamppost might be, as the snow had risen to almost twice what it was before. 'You are lost, dear, let me help you find your way.' The voice of the High Queen was just as beautiful as her. 'Yes please, if you could just help me locate a lamppost, I can find my way back from there.' My saying this triggered something amongst the royals, and the youngest one looked at me. Then, she got off her horse and walked me straight to the lamp. I turned to thank her, but she was gone.

"Around five months later, in the farm beside The Burrow, I saw the youngest sibling sitting there, looking stunning as ever. I approached her, and bowed down in front of her, but she merely smiled and laid her hands on my shoulders. 'I am no longer in Narnia' she said 'I am here just another girl'. Only when she said that did I notice that she was wearing normal clothes, and also that she looked much younger.

"'My name is Lucy Pevensie, and I have come here to give you something, after which I must return to Narnia for the last time.' I felt like asking her why for the last time, but I realised that it wasn't the moment to do so. Instead, I let her continue. 'While we were in Narnia, we were in danger, and as well in the land of Adam and Eve, but now we are safe, but you aren't.' I protested that our biggest threat had vanished but she told me that I was making judgements too fast.

"She pulled out a bag made of the same material as her dress had been. She pulled out four lockets from it, each with a single golden hair in them. 'All of us were given this by Aslan himself, as protection. I now give these to you. But first I must make it a part of you.' She performed the same magic that I performed, and I felt my insides burn. She told me the way to perform the magic but made me promise not to tell it to more than one person, as that was the only way the magic could work. Then she disappeared, and I haven't seen her since."

Albus decided to look at the glass of the locket, and found that it indeed said "The Kings And Queens of Narnia, may rain the protection to the locket bearer in the heartstring of Aslan." Albus, though, didn't believe her any word.

"You were in a different world altogether, and a _queen_ gave you four royal protection lockets? _Do you think I am an_ –" but what he thought Rose thought he was would never be known as just then James started screaming as they all had.

Moments later, Albus and Roger were sitting opposite James and Rose in their compartment. Albus was looking out the window, trying to think where Joshua might be and if he was okay. Roger was still trying to process what Rose had said about Narnia. James was still staring out into the corridor and Rose was unnaturally quiet, staring down at the floor.

"Why the long faces?" All four looked up at each other to see who had said that. The small, airy voice, it turned out, came from outside the compartment, somehow penetrating the soundproof glass. There stood Joshua with a smile on his face, hovering inches above the ground. "Is something wrong?"

"Josh, you're okay?" said Albus, who instinctively got up and ran to the door, fighting fruitlessly with the lock. Rose realised, in good time, that Albus was denying the fact of the matter that the door was locked.

"_Alohomora_." said Rose in a quiet voice, pointing her wand at the door. Just as Joshua was about to enter, however, she remembered that she had placed a protection charm on the door, and if Joshua entered he would disintegrate.

"WAIT!" she screamed at the top of her voice. Having opened the gate, her voice was able to travel through and Joshua stopped a hair's breadth away from the door.

Everyone turned to look at her, and she pointed her want at the door. "_Finite Incantatem_". The door shimmered for a second and then Joshua entered the compartment.

_Smack_!

Albus slapped Joshua hard on his left cheek which had started glowing red. He had fire in his eyes, fire of a nature known to be seen in a certain dark wizard's eyes…

"Albus, what's wrong with you? I thought we were friends!" Joshua, no matter how powerful, was still only an eleven year old, as could clearly be heard by his wavering voice.

"Some friend you were; leaving us alone then coming up here brightas day as though nothing at all had happened! Who do you think you are, Son of God?"

"No, but someone close!"

"STOP WITH THE JOKING!"

Then, once again, the train shook, preventing Joshua from returning another cheeky reply. In fact, Joshua now looked positively worried, as though he knew what was going to happen and wasn't looking forward to it at all.

The compartment door slid open and shut at a sickening pace, the train shook madly all over, lightning flashed perilously close to the train and James went mad with his wand.

Had Rose not cast the same protective bubble around the four of them, Albus, Joshua, Roger and her would have ended up with broken limbs and bones at the mercy of James's powerful and completely stupid wand waving.

Albus's shouts of _Petrificus Totalus_ were completely in vain as James's flashes of red and purple deflected the blue of Albus.

Finally, one of Albus's jinxes went and hit James and he froze in place, reducing the activity in the train by a considerable amount. Rose realised that it was safe enough to remove the bubble of protection, big mistake. Her removing the bubble acted as if like a cue for multiple cracks to sound in the air all around and inside the train.

A whole army of black, cloaked men boarded the train, and started binding and disarming people in every compartment, rendering them incapable of any movement. They then seemed to realise that disarming took way to long and so continued on with just the binding. Albus was thinking about a curse to fight them off with when he found himself unable to move.

Albus realised that it would be no use struggling as the ropes were bound to be strong, but then he found out that the ropes were alive. _Devil's Snare_, he instinctively thought, but then he saw that the ropes had faces, and all life seemed to drain out of him.

_Snakes_!

These cloaked people were using snakes to tie them up. This fact drove all thoughts of escape from Albus's mind; instead he started to think about who these people were. He realised that he would never be able to figure it out on his own, so he turned to the only smart person in the compartment, Rose. He expected her to be furiously working out the mystery but the expression on her face was that of tired admiration.

"Mum." The single word uttered by her explained everything to James, but Albus, Roger and Joshua were clueless. "I'm Hermione Weasley's daughter, and these are my relatives!" she called out at large and instantly two of the men were at the door.

"Your claims are being received by the official on–field in charge of the S.P.E.W, as appointed by Mrs Hermione Weasley. I, Arnold Bishop, promise to listen to your every claim with an unbiased view. Begin." The taller of the two had already struck Albus as a leader but his introduction proved Albus right.

"I am the daughter of Ron and Hermione Weasley and I clearly haven't got any house elves that I brutally torture, at all."

"Do you have any proofs to support your claim?"

"LOOK at me, you blithering idiots! Do I not look like her daughter to you? And, by the way, under the S.P.E.W and Ministry of Magic Collaboration Act 28982, Clause A, you aren't allowed to hold any underage witch or wizard bound or prisoner for any length of time, are you? Albus, send a note with your owl to Mum asking her to put a leash on her dogs please."

"Um, Rose, I am a bit restrained here." Then Albus turned to the two S.P.E.W officials "do you mind freeing us now, that is, if you are convinced."

"Haven't you been _listening_, Albus? They aren't allowed to hold us like this; Mum should fire them instantly, if only…"

The officials seemed to realise that she knew enough about their organisation to get them in trouble, hence one of them disapparated with a loud _crack_, leaving the in charge behind. The in charge in turn looked frightened to death.

"Pardon me, Ms Weasley, I had forgotten the law, I will withdraw my forces this instant and you shall never have trouble from me. Excuse us ma'am, we will take our leave now." And with that, Arnold flicked his wand, causing all the snakes to disappear, along with the enforcers. Then with a final bow to Rose, he disapparated too.

Rose turned back to the other four present in the room and addressed them at large. "Now that we are all protected, with the exception of Joshua, I think we should sit down and brainstorm about what is happening in the world around us. Joshua, can you think of any way in which you can be permanently protected?"

"I can." James was speaking directly to them for the first time since they had re-entered their compartment. He took off his locket, handed it to an astonished Rose and walked out of the compartment, breaking the door in the process.

Another crack caused all the four occupants of the room to look up in fear, but it wasn't someone they needed to fear, in fact they positively rejoiced at the sight of him. Standing right in the middle of the compartment, stood the tall, redhead, bandaged Weasley twin, George Weasley.

"I had to apparate into five compartments before I could reach this one; the train seems so much bigger than before. By the way, what is that ear–splitting noise all over the train, it sounds as though someone let a Hungarian Horntail loose in Weasley's Wizard Wheezes?"

Instead of responding, all three kids, excluding Joshua, hugged George right around the middle, screaming Uncle George in unison. Joshua smiled sheepishly and turned to look out the window, however the single tear glistening in his eye wasn't hidden from Albus, who left his cousins and Uncle to check on Joshua.

"I know you must miss your family, but we are your family while you are at Hogwarts. Come on, I'll introduce you to Uncle George, he's what one might call…amusing."

Joshua wiped his eyes and smiled even more sheepishly. _If only it were that simple_, Joshua thought, _I'd give anything for a different life_.

"Who's this young lad?" George didn't feel like joking at every trifle matter anymore, not since nineteen years.

Albus left Joshua and George to introduction and dragged Rose out into the now completely crowded corridor. He had some questions to ask Rose which had been nagging him since the presence of those S.P.E.W officials.

"I thought you said that these lockets were supposed to protect us! How is it that we managed to end up bound by _snakes_ with these on?" asked Albus. It was amazing how Rose could still hear him whisper amongst all the commotion.

"If you noticed, Albus, the snakes were fangless and their venom would have been ineffective. Those were just for binding, there was no need for protection, and hence the lockets did not react. These were given to me by a queen, Albus; they are not likely to be fake ones." And with that, Rose walked back into the compartment and started chanting the same mantra she had before to make the lockets a part of them. In a few moments, Albus heard the expected scream from Joshua from inside the compartment. He was about to walk in after Rose when he heard another scream from somewhere down the train, which he later learnt was James's.

Finally as the train began moving normally again, the sun sank below the horizon to the west and darkness crept up from the east. The sky had turned well dark as the train drew into the station.


	2. Earlier in the Life of Joshua Grace

**Chapter 2:- Earlier in the life of Joshua Grace.**

Lord Zeus was sitting on his throne at the head of Mount Olympus, the seat of amazing power. In his right hand, he held his Master Bolt, the most powerful lightning bolt in the universe and in his left he held his head.

Zeus looked up at the colossal room and was annoyed by how few of the Gods had turned up even after receiving his message. He had not expected Hades to turn up, but then he was not invited. There was Hera who looked equally annoyed that the only other God to arrive was Poseidon, God of the Sea.

Ares and Dionysus were there too, but they were ready to leave any moment and Hephaestus had not bothered to show up at all. Zeus's anger was mounting higher and higher which could be heard in the rolling thunder outside, unusual in the middle of June for Americans.

"THIS is the unbeatable force of the Olympian Gods? In these years we have come so far apart that we fail to realise the threat which looms over our very existence!" Even as he said that, lightning flashed across the sky, illuminating the city of Manhattan more than all their light combined could.

"Brother please, anger is not the answer. You must keep calm, send the message again, five of us are here, six more are to come, they will respond." Poseidon, though less powerful than Zeus, treated him always as an equal. His sea coloured eyes looked pleadingly into Zeus's dark grey ones and Zeus gave way.

"Only because you say so, otherwise the world would feel the full force of the Master Bolt tonight." Then Zeus stood up and walked out the great doors, into the open air of Mount Olympus. His voice drowned all other noise, even of the thunder which he caused. "GODS OF OLYMPUS! I have sent you a message to meet me at Mount Olympus; it angers me to see how few of you have reacted to it. For all those absent, if you value your existence and that of your loved ones, make yourself present this instant! Let a river of Ichor not stain the beauty of the Seat of the Gods."

"I had said to shout a message not a threat, brother. But look, already it is starting to take effect. Here comes Hermes now, and I think it is Apollo who follows." Indeed it was, the God of thieves and messengers floated down via his flying sandals. Following him appeared the God of poetry and healing in all his glory.

"Lord Zeus, could you please not send your messages to all the gods at once, to deliver those takes every ounce of energy I have." Hermes bowed to Zeus after almost every word. Apollo just started munching of a chunk of ambrosia which was beautifully presented on a table laden with food.

Soon all the Gods had arrived and were seated on their respective seats. Artemis, Athena, Aphrodite, Demeter, Hera, Hermes, Dionysus, Ares, Apollo, Hephaestus and Poseidon all looked up at Zeus.

Zeus looked uncharacteristically tense, the only expressions which suited him were anger and arrogance, Poseidon was quick to notice. "Brother, you seem worried, what is it? You can discuss it with us, we are your family."

"Family! Do you even know what that word means, Poseidon? We only meet one another twice in a year and you expect me to share my troubles with you? Nevertheless, we have a civilisation to protect, the centre of which I am, and I cannot afford to be tense."

All the Gods looked up at him as he finished speaking, most of them looking worried; if Zeus, King of the Gods was tense, the matter had to be big. Apollo looked towards the sky and was half tempted to make the sun rise earlier than usual, but he also realised that he would have to spend an eternity in The Abyss for doing so.

Poseidon wanted to speak again, but realised that at that particular moment Zeus was too angry to receive any words without anger, so he waited and allowed Zeus to initiate conversation. What he did do, however, was create a beautiful, black Pegasus out of thin air and sent it into the night sky, with a message unheard by any of the other Gods.

"Kronos is rising yet again from Tartarus, and I fear my brother helps him to do so. He gains more and more power; it is only a matter of time before he is awake again. We need demigods who will be able to stop him, and it has to be one of our sons or daughters. Poseidon's, Hades' or mine, a child of the eldest Gods. You have all heard the Oracle's prophecy?"

No one said anything for none of them had thought that hearing the prophecy would be necessary. Zeus was appalled, but he knew he would have much time to express his anger but right now he needed to alert everyone.

"Hestia" he called to the goddess of warmth and homes, who was sitting by the fireplace, "recite to us the prophecy, it is vital that we all know it."

With a bow to Zeus, she followed his command.

"_A half–blood of the eldest Gods_

_Shall reach sixteen against all odds_

_And see the world in endless sleep_

_The hero's soul, cursed blade shall reap_

_A single choice shall end his days _

_Olympus to preserve or raze_"

"Well then, the prophecy is a mistake, The Oracle was wrong!" Apollo screamed out loud, startling everyone, and heating up the room intensely.

"The prophecy was made seventy years ago when these circumstances were perfectly possible. This prophecy is what led to our pact, the pact to never have children." Poseidon, of course, knew that he was guilty even as he said this. Zeus knew that he was also guilty of breaking the pact, but guilt isn't something associated with the King of Gods.

"Regardless, we must set up all defences. Poseidon, protect the seas, the Elementals have been after us for Aeons and they will take this as an opportunity to attack. Rest of you, protect your domains; get your children prepared for the fight that will inevitably come. I trust that all of you have Godly businesses to attend to, go on."

Poseidon stayed back for he realised that there was something else going on in Zeus's mind which he thought too grave to share with everyone else. He decided to try his luck. "What is bothering you brother, there is something much more serious than Kronos rising, isn't that so?"

"I fear so. Kronos rising, as dangerous as it is, can be controlled if all our efforts are combined. I fear that something else, much beyond our power, is happening."

"What is it brother?"

"I don't want to tell you Poseidon, I don't want to get you panicked unnecessarily. Leave now, I need to be alone."

"I know what you fear brother, and I can't let you fight this war alone. I will have to alert the other Olympians. I have been trying to prevent it, but my efforts have been worthless. My earthquakes have no effect; floods and rain seem to avoid their purpose. It will be tough, and we will need to stand together."

"You will not tell anyone! She is not our immediate threat, Kronos is. We need to focus all our powers at stopping him from rising. Kronos is someone there is any use in trying to stop; her awakening is uncontrollable."

Poseidon bowed to Zeus and disappeared in a wave of water, which in turn disappeared the moment he was gone, leaving Zeus and Hera alone.

"You really think that she doesn't pose a threat, don't you? Please tell me, Zeus, that what you said to Poseidon wasn't just consolation." Hera's voice and face were impassive, but Zeus knew that she was deeply frightened on the inside.

Zeus looked back at Hera, who was not only disappointed but also shocked to see worry in her husband's eyes. "She will awake, Hera, and when she does it will be the end of Olympus."

Meanwhile, six hundred floors down, somewhere in the middle of Manhattan, Sally Jackson screamed. "Is it a boy? Please tell me it's a boy. IT NEEDS TO BE A BOY!" amongst her screams of pain, it was amazing how she was able to debate on whether her baby was a boy or not.

Lying on a blue stretcher, with blue sheets and pillows, in a blue gown, Sally looked like a wave in the middle of the sea. She had already decided what to name her son, he very extraordinary son. She was confident that it would be a son, no reason at all; she just liked a son better than a daughter.

"Perseus" Sally whispered to a nurse who had just asked her what she would name her child. "I'll call him Perseus, like the son of Zeus."

"And what if it's a girl?"

"Shut up! It won't be a girl."

Then she screamed again, as she got rolled into the maternity ward. The walls of the ward, to Sally's dismay and anger, were white. This, the doctors, nurses and other patients soon realised was another opportunity for her to scream. "BLUE! I said I wanted the walls to be blue; I wanted everything to be blue! Why are the walls white?"

The doctor ignored everything she said, naturally, and continued to treat her. Half an hour later, she held Perseus Jackson in her arms and was smiling happily; this was one instance she loved in non–blue.

Sally called on to Poseidon, the father of Percy Jackson and told him that she had conceived his child. He was indeed very disappointed, but realised that this was an occasion of celebration for her and he tried to participate with a happy mood.

"What is wrong, dear? You aren't nearly as happy as I thought you would be. Tell me." Sally Jackson had the uncanny ability to look through everyone, even Gods of Olympus. What was more surprising was the fact that she could see the Gods themselves, through the Mist.

"We are not supposed to have children, you know that. I just fear what will happen when Zeus finds out; he could banish me from Olympus."

"Zeus can't do that to you, he would have to do that to himself then. Weren't you telling me that he had a son with the Grace woman some twenty years ago, and he recently had a daughter some six years ago as well, and then another son? That, now that I think of it, is just very weird."

"Don't even think that way, ever. Zeus is the King of Gods for a reason, he can hear everything anyone says about him, and he gets angry really quickly. Now, I have to go. Wish my son luck for his life, which probably won't be any longer than eighteen years."

And on dropping that bombshell, the God of the Sea disappeared in a spray of water and salt, which didn't wet Sally at all. She smiled, and then frowned, then got a quizzical look about her face and finally she broke something made of glass on her bedside table, causing all the doctors and nurses to look up at her in surprise.

Joshua Grace, however, was completely oblivious to all this as he was only half a month old, but twenty in essence. Joshua Grace was Zeus's son with Ms Grace, who was born twenty years earlier to Percy Jackson, yet would only grow to be eleven when Percy Jackson turned seventeen.

Zeus had realised the grave error he had committed, and had sought to right his mistake. On conceiving the child of the most powerful Olympian God, Ms Grace had been in a very weak state, weak enough that Zeus was able to convince her of the fact that she had not conceived any child at all.

What he had done was give the child to a Fury, not, however, for murder but for safekeeping until he could think of what to do with him. It took him two weeks to finally understand what to do with his son; he would follow in the footsteps of Hades.

Hades had hidden his children, Nico and Bianca di Angelo in the Lotus Hotel and Casino, a place where you didn't grow up at all. That's what he would do with his son, Joshua Grace; he would keep him in the Lotus Hotel where he would remain forever at the age of two weeks. No one could raise any objection.

'I will need someone to take care of him' thought Zeus. A million names flashed across his mind, but one kept repeating. That one particular person was easily the best person, but he would be very reluctant to take up the offer, no matter how many Drachmae he offered him. Chiron.

The centaur was the most reliable person he knew, but he was also the most devotional teacher ever, he would never leave the joy of teaching for taking care of a demigod, but Zeus had to try.

"Chiron" Zeus whispered to the wind, and the wind spirits following his command transferred his message to the centaur, which appeared in front of him within moments.

"Lord Zeus, you called?" asked Chiron, bowing down to give Zeus the utmost respect.

Zeus, of course, gave no respect in turn. "I need you to take care of my new born son, I plan to leave him in the Lotus Hotel and I will need you to take care of him there. I will offer you anything you want in return, anything at all, a seat with the Olympian Gods, you could have your own domain.

"No." Chiron was always a straightforward person, he didn't like to dwell about the point, and this was one such point. "With all due respect, Lord Zeus, I consider the fact that you would trust me with such a job prestigious but I have students who I love, and nothing you could give me would replace that."

Again Zeus's anger caused the sky to rumble, and yet again the ground shook, ready to split. All that Chiron was waiting for now was for lava to spew out from somewhere in the middle of the street. The Big Three went in a kind of chain reaction: Zeus got angry and started to make thunder and clouds roll across the sky, causing Poseidon to get angry that the sudden storm would disturb his domain, so he caused an earthquake. With every earthquake, more souls tried to break free from the Underworld, causing Hades to get angry. Hades being the God of everything underground, spewed lava whenever he got mad.

"I hope, Chiron that you realise the gravity of what you have just said. You haven't only turned down a seat on Olympus but also Lord Zeus. Pray to all your Gods that I forgive you for this!"

"By all means Lord Zeus, kill me now if you desire, but I cannot fulfil your desire. However, I do know someone who can, but the choice is all but acceptable." and he duly bowed down before Zeus, not a trace of fear in his manner, just respect.

"Who is it? I demand of you!"

"Bianca di Angelo."

"You dare suggest that a daughter of Hades take care of a son of Zeus, do you not value your life, Chiron?"

"I had said before, Lord Zeus, that the choice is indeed all but acceptable."

Then, for the first time since cutting Kronos up into pieces, Zeus threw his Master Bolt down, causing the entire sky to light up brightly. He looked at Chiron with eyes mirroring the clouds in the event of a thunderstorm and at last Chiron felt afraid. Chiron backed away from Zeus, nearly tripping over his own four feet but bowing continuously.

"If that is what must happen, then it shall be so. Chiron, you will not mention this to anyone, it will be your last day, and that of your beloved students when I hear you mentioning this to anyone."

Chiron bowed even lower and Zeus disappeared behind a large cloud, leaving him alone in the middle of the street. He raced back to Camp Half – Blood and tried to forget the awful experience he had just had.

Thousands of miles away near Las Vegas, Zeus appeared out of thin air in his human form at the gates of the Lotus Hotel and Casino. He charged in and marched to the main reception. The receptionist recognised him instantly and she directed him to a room off the side of the lobby. Even though Zeus wasn't in his God form, she had trouble looking at him.

"Master Zeus, how can the Lotus be of assistance to you?"

"Bring me Hades' daughter, Bianca di Angelo, and not a word to anyone about what will happen."

The receptionist was frozen in place for a few moments. It had been Hades' greatest demand that no one, especially Zeus, find out about his children, and clearly she had failed him. She feared to think what Zeus wanted with the little girl and why he didn't ask for the brother.

Perhaps he didn't know of the brother, perhaps he wished to separate them or, against all odds, he would kill them one by one. Whatever the reason, the receptionist decided that she wouldn't give in just yet.

"I have no idea of what you are talking about, Master Zeus; I can assure you that no child of Hades had made his way to this hotel." She knew that it was a hollow lie and Zeus could be able to see through it instantly. She also realised that she was lying to a God, and one who would not think twice before zapping her into thin air.

"Bring her to me."

Alice, the receptionist, just felt lucky that Zeus had decided to let her live that she left the room without another word. Moments later she was back with a small, scared looking girl behind her.

"Bianca, I need you to take care of my son for me. He should be safe at all times."

"But I have only been here five minutes, how am I supposed to take care of someone?"

Zeus was familiar with the magic of the hotel: it caused one to believe that one had only been there for hours when they had really been there for days or even years. He also knew that Bianca would be too immature at the early age, but he also knew that he needed a person of magical blood to take care of his son.

However, he was Zeus, King of the Gods, Lord of the Sky, God of Power, he did not have time to explain the concept to a child, and he had other things to attend to and considerably more important ones. He turned to Alice and looked at her with a meaningful gaze, thereby explaining to her what exactly he desired. His last words acted like a cue for a huge mist to cover him completely, making him disappear yet again.

Twenty six years later Zeus visited the Lotus Hotel yet again but this time, he didn't call on anyone. He walked up to the only room on the top floor of the hotel, pulled his son out of the arms of a rather shocked Bianca and jumped out the window. He landed elegantly on the doorstep of an Italian family and transformed into his human form yet again.

Zeus had known the family for quite some time and he knew that they were reliable. Their ancestors had been responsible for the protection of many demigods after they had been snatched away by a huge wolverine. Zeus trusted them for another reason; they were wizards. They knew of the existence of magic and though they couldn't channel the powers of Joshua, they could give him some training. Hence, Zeus knocked on their door and waited patiently for someone to open the door.

Mr Antonio Russo opened the door and at the sight of Zeus gave a small smile. He didn't invite Zeus inside as he knew the God wouldn't have enough time.

"This is my son, Antonio; I want you to take great care of him. I wanted to take him out only when Bianca left but I feared that any longer in that cursed place and both he and I would go mad with agony. You longed for a son, Tony, you have one now."

For eleven years to come, Joshua Grace would grow up with Antonio and Maria Russo, growing up to be something more than just a wizard. His identity would be kept secret even from him.

Eleven years later he would board the Hogwarts Express and would indulge with fellow wizards for the first time ever.

"Joshua, would you check the post please, I think there's something special about it today." Joshua's adoptive mother, Maria Russo, was a tall woman, with long black hair and by contrast a beautifully white face. She also happened to be an excellent cook and a very kind and loving woman.

The Russo family had already told Joshua that he was a wizard and also all about a special school called "Hogwarts", though why one would name something hog and warts was completely beyond him. He knew of Hogwarts' history, both ancient and modern. Amongst all the events and people related to Hogwarts' history, he felt particularly fond of two people he knew he ought not to be fond of; Salazar Slytherin and Tom Riddle, alias Lord Voldemort.

Joshua had confessed his feeling to his parents, but whereas his mother had just discarded it as child's fantasy, his father had looked slightly uncomfortable, as though there was a deeper reason. But Joshua also knew that the famous Harry Potter was still alive, and that he would definitely want to meet him, not because he was fascinated by him, in fact he thought that the only reason Harry survived was due to his luck and friends, but because he wanted to see if such a person could be_ normal_.

The Russo's dog, who Joshua had very well called Dudley, was barking loudly at the mail flap, which was still shaking due to the heavy post being shoved down it. Being a Sunday there should have been no post at all, but Joshua knew the workings of the wizard world: owls didn't know Sunday was off after all. Since the letters were from the wizard world they had to be for Joshua, and were most probably from Hogwarts. No wonder his mother had asked him to get the post.

To Joshua slight surprise and utter disappointment, the letters were from his Aunt Theresa, who was very much a Muggle and lived in Paris, not Hogwarts. He slowly brought the letters in and dumped them heavily onto the table feeling more than ever anxious for his acceptance letter. He was about to retire to his room when suddenly the flap flapped again and Dudley started barking even louder: two posts on a Sunday, outrageous!

In the hallway, near the door lay three heavy envelopes made of yellowish parchment with coats of arms on them. Joshua picked them up, his smile widening with each step he took to the letters and each step he took back to the living room. He sat down on the edge of the chair and called out Mum in a feeble voice, not caring enough in his excitement to look back to see whether or not she had reappeared.

Joshua tore open the first and thickest envelope and out fell two pieces of yellow parchment, each bearing the Hogwarts coat of arms. One was a list of books and items which each first year would have to purchase and the other was the much awaited acceptance letter. He prayed to all his stars and thanked the very fact that he had come to this family then he looked at the paper.

HOGWARTS SCHOOL _of_ WITCHCRAFT _and_ WIZARDRY

Headmaster: WILLIAM ARTHUR WEASLEY

(_Order of Merlin, Third Class, Deputy Head, Order of the Phoenix,_

_Curse Breaker, Head Boy, Restorer, International Statue of Secrecy.)_

Dear Mr Grace,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted into the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of necessary books and equipment.

Term begins on September 1. We await your owl by no later than July 31.

Yours Sincerely,

Neville Longbottom

Neville Longbottom

Deputy Headmaster

Joshua read and re-read the acceptance letter, unable to believe what he was seeing. He was very excited that he has certainly gotten himself at Hogwarts, but they had gotten his surname wrong! He was Joshua Russo, not Grace; as it turned out, even professionals could make drastic mistakes.

What shocked him more, however, was that Bill Weasley had managed to find himself headmaster, how outrageous! Surely there was someone who was more worthy of the post than him.

Putting all that aside, Joshua turned to the second paper, the requirements list.

HOGWARTS SCHOOL _of_ WITCHRAFT _and_ WIZARDRY

UNIFORM

First-year students will require

Three sets of plain work robes (black)

One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear

One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)

One winter cloak (black, with silver fastenings)

Please note that all pupils' clothes should carry name tags.

COURSE BOOKS

_Book of Spells for New Wizards_

By Hermione Granger

_The real History of Magic_

By Cuthbert Binns

_Theories of Magic_

By Hermione Granger

_Herbology for Beginners_

By Neville Longbottom

_Transformations and where they start_

By Hermione Granger

_All about Brewing and Standard Potions_

By Horace Slughorn

_Creatures around Us_

By Luna Lovegood

_Training in self defence_

By Harry Potter

_Flying and how to do it right_

By Harry Potter

OTHER EQUIPMENT

1 wand

1 cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)

1 set glass of crystal phials

1 telescope

1 set brass scales

1 broomstick (standard Nimbus 2000)

Students may also bring, if they desire, an owl, OR a cat, OR a toad.

Joshua knew all these people! He knew them by name at least, and that was enough to get him overjoyed. Now that Joshua had read his acceptance letter and his requirements list, he almost didn't care about the other ones. But he was a curious little boy; he tore open the second heaviest envelope. It was a letter to him, by a Minerva McGonagall.

_Dear Joshua Grace, _

_I am sure that the thought which most persists in your mind as you read this letter is that of being called Grace as opposed to the Russo that you are used to. I must therefore duly inform you that this is one of the many surprises you will receive as you carry on reading this letter._

_If you have yet not read your acceptance letter and haven't been informed so by your parents, you should know that you are a wizard. You are one of the most special people that will walk through the Hogwarts doors. I must now reveal to you your true identity._

_You are the son of a Muggle woman and, unbelievably, Lord Zeus himself. You are what the Greeks would call a demigod. I have only ever come across one such person and I must warn you that your life is going to be full of danger. Your father has taken a special interest in you, something which he hasn't done since the time of his favourite son, Hercules. _

_A question you may have unanswered is whether you are a wizard or a demigod. When you were just a baby and delivered to the Russo's, I watched over you. I watched over you much as I had the Potters' boy. _

_I made sure that you had a better fate than other demigods because I had heard a prophecy of which you were the subject. I knew you were destined for greatness and I wanted to make sure that you achieved it. In doing so, I imitated a man named Albus Dumbledore._

_When I saw you for the very first time, you seemed to me a reflection of Harry Potter, just without the famous scar. I did for you what I had to ask Albus to do for Harry, I tied you to the Russo family; I made you a wizard._

_Had Zeus any spare time, and were he more powerful than me, he would have blasted me to bits for telling you the truth which I just have. However, as a favour to your family you have treated you as one of their own, resume your life normally. I wish for you to know what you are, but I do not want that to affect your life in any way whatsoever._

_Thank you, good luck, and welcome to Hogwarts._

_Minerva McGonagall. _

Joshua was shocked. More shocked than he had ever been in his life. More shocked than when he almost blew up his first grade teacher, more shocked than when he played with a cloud for the first time, more shocked even than when he flew for the first time ever.

'I am a demigod, my father is Zeus, I am going to a school full of magic people and my parents aren't my parents.' Joshua thought a lot about what he had just found out, and realised that he didn't have the nerve to open the third envelope just yet.

"Mum, I want baked beans and bacon for breakfast".


	3. Crossing the Black Lake

**Chapter 3:- Crossing the Black Lake.**

The Hogwarts Express jerked to a stop and just at that moment thousands of screams echoed up and down the train. "We're here, we're at Hogwarts!"

Everyone started running madly out of the train, anxious to get their first glimpse of the wonderful school. Every first year was disappointed for you could see nothing from the platform.

"First Years come this way to the boats; all other students follow Mr Filch!" A tall lady wearing fur coats was shouting at the arrivals in a high-pitched voice. All the one hundred and forty-four students lined up obediently with respect.

"Come on round you returning wizard scum, as if there weren't enough people to take care of already! Hurry up now, it'll be me the one who has to clean up after you all, better hurry it up along then!" Filch carried on his rumblings, though no one in particular so much as heard him.

"There is a wet slope along here of which you should be cautious, lest you fall into the water and have to be aided by the Giant Squid." This fair bit of warning by Mrs Catherine was followed by several giggles which, over the years, she had learnt to ignore.

She called out to a house elf that had been waiting so silently in the dark that no one even realised its presence. Only when it came running out of the middle of a group of third-years did anyone see it. Apparently, it was a girl.

"I want you to take these first years to the castle, hand them over to professor Longbottom and then return to the kitchen, have you understood that Winky?"

"Yes Mrs Norris."

"How dare you? Filthy elf!"

"Apologies Mrs Catherine, I had no intention to!"

"Go away now!"

Joshua, not being familiar with a Mrs Norris, made the mistake of asking her why she wasn't talking them to Hogwarts herself. This earned him a detention with her on Friday.

'Great,' thought Joshua 'a detention before I even saw my school'.

Only when the first-years stood at one end of the half a mile stretch of water did they realise how serious Mrs Catherine had been. Every student was slipping off their feet quicker than their friends could catch hold of them.

Of course that's when Joshua, Rose, Roger and Albus realised how effective the lockets were. Not once did any of the four skid on the slippery floor and Roger even survived a rather nasty slip.

As they were thanking their lucks, the boats rolled onto the shore and the students started filing into them. Just as Joshua was about to cross into the boat, however, his feet touched a small puddle of water.

Instantly a great amount of water near Joshua, including that of the puddle in which he had stepped, raised high into the air. The boats, which didn't have students in them, started swaying madly over the surface of the water.

A great look of shock and fear crept onto Joshua's face as the ground nearest him started cracking. A loud whining noise was heard from the castle, amazingly being able to travel across the lake and make it heard over the commotion. Joshua knew exactly who, and what, was causing the reactions to take place; he prayed with all his devotion to the god of the sea, Poseidon.

As Joshua chanted the prayer, his eyes grew heavy, his vision darkened and the sound around him grew gradually softer.

Suddenly, Joshua was under the Black Lake. He could see the lights of Hogwarts above the surface, but there seemed to be no sense of life anywhere else above water. Underwater, however, the case was quite different.

Every drop of water seemed to be thriving here with life. Admittedly Joshua had expected great things at the bottom of the much popular Black Lake, yet what he saw was well beyond his wildest imaginations.

Merpeople floated with grace through the dark waters, proud rulers of their underwater domain. Plants, which acted very much like animals, bent and moved with the slight yet powerful current.

Joshua also saw something he hadn't expected, filth. Joshua had been unfortunate enough to fall into the Thames at one point. He saw much resemblance of the filth in this lake.

There had been much talk of a Giant Squid lurking in the depths of the lake and Joshua secretly hoped to see it now that he was indeed underwater. This last fact, he reminded himself, could not be good at all.

"Uncle Poseidon, have you brought me here?" Joshua knew that his father was much more powerful than Poseidon, but he wasn't.

"Who else could have had the power to do so, you incompetent demigod!" the voice seemed to be coming from the water itself; a deep, heavy echoing voice.

"Did you want to talk to me, uncle?"

"You will refer to me as Lord Poseidon, God of the Sea, master of the Olympian creatures, possessor of the Trident of Death and Life or you will die!"

"Yes Lord Poseidon" Joshua hoped his luck would favour him and Poseidon would excuse him for just calling him by his name and title.

Even as Joshua looked at the water around him he felt a certain cool breeze come at him. He felt the water around him turn saltier and his eyes burnt slightly. Had Joshua been able to let go of his body it would have certainly floated to the top much faster.

The currents around Joshua seemed to change; they focused themselves at a single point roughly eight feet away. The currents forced the water to clear itself of all particulates. The water then started forming itself into a man-like figure. Soon, Joshua was staring at a grown man, easily ten feet tall and carrying a glowing green-blue trident.

Joshua Grace, son of Zeus, was face to face with Poseidon, god of the sea.

Poseidon, however, never seemed to materialise. Though considering that he had formed out of water it would be quite impossible for him to solidify. Joshua could still make out some well-defined features on his face. His grey-blue eyes had wrinkles all around them; his cheekbones we considerably high and they ended in a strong, square jaw.

"My brother has done enough to warn you, demigod, and you will pay heed to that warning! As of now you are ignorant of him and his message, it would be wise if you paid more attention. Leave now, before I am too tempted to destroy you. Know whose domain you find yourself in and where you ought to be. Zeus may be my elder, but I have very less respect for you."

Even if Joshua had had the courage to reply, he couldn't have for at that moment he found himself back at the shore of the Black Lake. Semi-conscious, Joshua had no comprehension of what had just happened with him causing him to stare rather blankly at those present.

Finally, as Joshua came to terms with the present time, he heard shouts of worry.

"Are you okay, Joshua? You just fainted and then disappeared. What happened?" asked Rose, her eyes wide in either fear or shock, or both.

"I'm fine, just very tired and hungry" replied Joshua so as to avoid any further questions.

"What is going on over there? I want all of you in those boats right now or you can spend the night on the platform!" The shrill voice of Mrs Catherine Norris pierced the night and made its way to the now terrified children.

Winky, the unobtrusive house elf, motioned for everyone to board the boats. Sixteen boats each carried nine students with Winky in the front boat. Albus, Joshua, Roger, Rose, James and Aaron had hung back to wait until they were in the last boat with four other student who they weren't familiar with.

Joshua seized that opportunity to tell them everything that had happened. All four displayed relevant surprise at learning that Joshua had found himself in the Lake. He had, of course, withheld the fact that he was Zeus's son and had been face to face with Poseidon just moments ago. He knew better than to tell anyone that. Joshua's thoughts went back to the 31st of August.

The comforting smell of freshly baked warm butter and pistachio cookies wafted up the stairs to Joshua's room where he was sitting on his bed. He had been making sure that all of his belongings had been packed and his screech owl, Krushwell, was in her cage.

Joshua had the third, unopened envelope from Hogwarts in his hands. It was the lightest of all three which meant that it could have no more than a single piece of parchment in it. Finally, Joshua tore it open.

A piece of parchment no larger than his Hogwarts ticket fell out of the envelope. On that parchment were written two short, simple sentences. The first was: _Don't tell anyone who you are, no one Mr Grace. _The second was the more perplexing: _I open at the close. _

At the bottom was the signature of the minister himself, Kingsley Shacklebolt. Apparently everyone was familiar with Joshua, a fact he didn't enjoy as much.

"No!" someone was screaming repeatedly. Upon looking to his right, Joshua found it to be Rose who had her wand out but was unable to recall any effective spells. Looking ahead Joshua found why Rose needed to recall spells at all.

Their boat wasn't even halfway across the water body when the water beneath them started churning violently. From the water rose two huge serpents which started swaying madly. One was made up of a greenish flesh which was exceedingly scaly. The other, however, was composed entirely of water.

Just as serpents would, these creatures, though not quite serpents, hissed uncontrollably. Joshua knew, of course, that his uncle had arranged for these beings and in truth he had expected something of the sort. Ignoring the warnings of two of the three most powerful gods in the universe has its disadvantages.

"LET MY FRIENDS GO, IT'S ME YOU WANT!" screamed Joshua at the top of his voice. He realised that he would have a lot of his friends' questions to answer but he needed to ensure their safety as of this moment.

Joshua had expected the serpents to respond to the sound, what he hadn't expected, however, was their reply.

"Demigod, you have been warned enough! You offend Lord Zeus's warning by proceeding to the school and you do it over Lord Poseidon's domain! Death is all you deserve."

The threat had its desired effect on Joshua. The terrified eleven-year-old closed his eyes and begged for his father to listen to him and help him just this once. Zeus listened to his son and responded by causing the sky to rumble extremely loudly.

Flashes of lightning were seen in the sky, causing the other one hundred and forty three students to look up in terror. The monsters were, if not more aroused, completely oblivious. The watery serpent in its new found rage opened its huge mouth and spewed saltwater at every occupant of Joshua's boat.

Realising that his father hadn't helped that much after all, Joshua turned to the one god he knew would either make these monster go away, or do the same to him.

"God of the Underworld, Master of the Dead, Keeper of the Styx, King of Shadows, God Hades, help me. I, Joshua Grace, son of the Lord of the Sky, King of the Gods bow down before you and ask for your help."

"HOW DARE YOU ASK HIM FOR HELP YOU UNGRATEFUL DEMIGOD?" boomed the same voice which had been heard on board the Hogwarts express. Lord Zeus had spoken, Joshua's plan worked.

"Father! I need your help. Uncle Poseidon has arranged for these monsters to kill me and my innocent friends. Only you have the ultimate power which can save us now!"

"And yet you disgrace yourself by asking for help from someone else! You are a disgrace to the Greek Heritage to which you unfortunately belong!"

However, to Joshua's extreme delight Zeus decided to help them after all. Jets of East wind, strong enough to topple towers, made themselves present. The monsters swayed wildly but succumbed to the water after all. Joshua breathed a sigh of relief, a moment too soon. A wave higher than maybe even the Eiffel Tower rose over their heads and solidified in mid-air. The boats all stopped and the only light or sound was the intense activity in the night sky.

Many miles to the west and much higher up, the council of Lord Zeus was home to a vicious quarrel between the god of the sea and the god of the sky.

"WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS, POSEIDON?" bellowed Zeus in intense ire. Zeus's master bolt grew longer and whiter in his hands, receiving energy from Zeus's anger itself.

"You may be the king of gods, brother, but you have no right to interfere in my matters concerning my domain!"

"You wish to kill my son! How do you expect me not to interfere? Have you forgotten that I once let _your_ son pass through my domain?"

"My son has returned the favour by saving Olympus itself, so much so that you are indebted to him! Do not resort to counting favours, brother, for the history of the throne is not hidden to any."

"POSEIDON! Do not provoke me any further lest I destroy all which you hold dear!"

"By all means, then see your brethren perish in Tartarus."

"Zeus, no!" screamed Hera when she realised that Zeus was positioned to use the master bolt. "Zeus, control your anger, this is what she wants, why can't you understand? She is feeding on your hatred, counting on your anger to end the rein of the Olympians. You want to cause this; you want to let her rise over a simple, worthless demigod? By all means, destroy the child but not your own brother. Zeus, don't do it!"

Hera's words had the desired effect; Zeus set aside his master bolt and disappeared in a puff of smoke. Poseidon stood still, his anger making all the water of the world, save that of the Black Lake, churn furiously.

"How can a demigod cause all this? How can he create a rift between the two greatest brothers and friends of the universe? Surely something about this boy is special, what is it?" asked Hera, more to herself than anyone in the room.

The black wall of solidified water seemed impenetrable and very permanent indeed. Winky panicked and disapparated leaving the students alone in small, wooden boats in the middle of the Black Lake.

By this point, the quartet was tired and felt overwhelmed by the adventures of their first day, they could only imagine what would happen in the year, and years to come. Meanwhile, Albus showed no hesitation in expressing to Rose his anger at the ineffectiveness of the lockets. She merely shook her head.

Rose looked at the carved face of the lion on her locket, closed her eyes and imagined that lion right next to her, its golden hair swaying with the wind, its warm eyes full of grace and kindness, its large body resembling the bravery and beauty of a warrior. She bowed down before it, and respectably called it Aslan, King of Narnia.

"We need your help; your faith is in question. Help us."

A warm wind brought Rose back to the boat and she opened her eyes just in time to see the last of the wall melting away into the water as though it were nothing more that mist.

They finally reached Hogwarts where the smell of food drove all other thoughts from their minds and they hurriedly got off the boats and followed Winky, who was waiting at the foot of the castle.

"Come along, little wizardy and witchy peoples, we's is going to get you four nicey housies!" squeaked the little house-elf.

At the mention of sorting and houses, all those who had some knowledge of the Wizard World started debating as to whether they would be in Gryffindor, Slytherin, Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw. Joshua was just hoping that he wouldn't be embarrassed on his first day to Hogwarts, or rather, embarrassed any further.

"You seem tense, Albus, what's happened?" asked Joshua.

"I feel that I would let my father down if I weren't put in Gryffindor".

"Rubbish. The simple matter of which house you are put into doesn't change your identity, I mean it's not like at Camp Half-Blood where you are put into your parent's house".

Where this sudden outburst of information came from Joshua didn't know. What he did know, however, was that this fact, new to both Albus and himself, was as right and sure as the fact that he was Zeus's son. How his life would be messed up now…

"Let's go seal our fate for the next seven years to come".

"It won't be that bad, Josh. My dad told me that the Sorting Hat actually listens to what you want and it even acts on your wishes sometimes. Do you know that the hat put my father in Gryffindor over Slytherin just because he wanted it? Come on, it'll be fine, I promise".

"What if I don't get sorted?" asked Joshua, more to himself than Albus.

Albus felt a familiar fear come over him, worse than that of him not getting sorted. He thought about what would happen if Joshua indeed did not get sorted. For some unknown reason, Albus had come to be great friends with Joshua and couldn't bear the thought of them being away. Though, for the past thousands of years, every student to have studied at Hogwarts was sorted, Joshua was just something different. Didn't he mention a camp of some kind, where you were sorted in the same house as your parents? What if they sent him to that camp? What would happen to him then?

All these thoughts had to be fought out of Albus's head to make him appreciate the grand feast and the next great adventure awaiting him within the great hall.


End file.
